Google MapsThe Regency at Long Valley is proposed for Fairview Avenue in Washington Township, Morris County.

WASHINGTON (Morris County) -- A developer is suing the Washington Township Planning Board over its rejection of the company’s plan to build a 45-unit townhouse complex on Fairview Avenue.

The planning board rejected the Regency at Long Valley proposal over several issues last month, primarily its possible impact on traffic, according to the suit.

The development had been approved in 2004 as age-restricted housing. But after the units failed to sell, the developer removed the 55-and-over requirement and converted the plan to all-ages housing.

Under the new proposal, the complex would include 36 market-rate units and nine affordable units. There would be 38 three-bedroom units and seven two-bedroom units.

Regency at Long Valley, which is the name of both the proposed complex and the development company, filed the suit this week in Superior Court in Morristown. The suit seeks a court judgment that would reverse the planning board’s decision, along with reimbursement for legal costs.

The suit cites a state law passed in 2009 that permits conversion of previously approved age-restricted units to all-ages units.

The law said "the shortage of affordably priced workforce housing has been exacerbated in recent years by a municipal preference for age-restricted housing, which has resulted in an over-supply of age-restricted housing approvals," according to the suit.

In denying the application, the board told Regency it didn’t have enough information, the suit says.

The board said the developer failed to give the board’s traffic engineer a time extension to hear the application; questioned whether there was a shortage of "workforce housing" in the township and said it needed more time to assess the impact of new ordinances on the project, the suit says.

The suit points out Regency’s traffic consultant "testified that the increase in traffic would have an insubstantial effect."

Regency’s attorney, Lawrence Cohen, said the board "wanted more information on traffic. We say we gave all the information we were required to give."